2012-11-14 - Oddness in Otherworld: Elf About
A number of small, unexplained, senseless murders have dotted the San Franscisco area. Small-time, random things with no linking. Thus not the type of thing to get attention. But, someone has called in a favor of a favor. And Pete hasbeen sent to check out one of them. Our story begins in what would be the women's restroom at an old, run down bar, where peeled away police tape litters the floor. Pete Wisdom didn't even have his nicotine gum in right now. He needed to focus, and focusing involved detailed searching. Latex gloves in his hands, a white medical mask over his mouth to keep him from breathing on anything important, and the man has ducked under the police tape and is investigatin'! He's even been nice enough to hang his coat up so it doesn't drag anywhere as he searches - so he's dressed in a white business shirt and looseblack tie, with obvious body armor underneath the shirt. The witness reports were nonsense. A woman in the other stall said that a little Santa's helper had gone in, peppered the stall with bullets, then walked away like he hadn't done anything. What had tapped someone's ears at MI-13 was heremphatic description that the ears were real. And so.. There Pete is. In the women's restroom. The scent of bullets in the air. And the tingle of magic. Yes. Whatever did this wasn't a short man who had finally broken from too many brats on Santa's lap. Dedrick had heard of the distrubance via his police scanner and was now parked outside of the run down bar, sitting in his jaguar convertible. His laptop was on his lap and he was currently hacking into the policedatabase to find out more details about the case. He frowns slightly as he reads some of the details of the murders, not really knowing that someone else was working the same case, only in a much more official capacity. Pete Wisdom knew that smell. It stank of Otherworld. He looked at corners, mirrors (just in case something was hiding inside or in the room with him still!), the stalls themselves, careful not to outright touch anything. Looking for any scrap of definite evidence. "Too big to be a faerie, least in the usual sense. Who's got a nut against random people here in San Francisco? He needed to know who the victim was. The victim was a lady in her early fourties. Recently divorced, out bar hopping in the hopes of getting a high or a one night stand. A half dozen other victims had nothing similar. One a young boy, another an elderly man, a third a children's television show host on Comedy Central. The group had nothing in common, toher than acts of total randomness. And here, Pete was lucky enough in one regard. The crime had happened recently, so the trail was trackable. Dedrick reads and re-reads all of the evidence that exists on the cases in the police database. He couldn't put his finger on a pattern or anything, so he decided to take a look inside. Grabbing his backpack out of the back seat, he moves towards the building. He finds a nice shady spot for a quick costume change and then moves inside the doors, making his way towards the bathrooms. Nothing in common? Pete would see about that - checking family histories with some of his wonderful tech that was available to him - looking for things like numerological connections. Seventh children of seventh children and that sort of thing. But the trail was still fresh, eh? So he had to move fast. Where was it headed? Otherworld magical residue was trackable, at least, in some sense. Pete wet his finger in his mouth, stepped about in a circle with his eyes shut, muttering in Gaelic. Aaaaand... which way? Hopefully not through a fucking mirror. And here he was, looking a total fool. What Pete got as he went out fo the bar, passing by Dedrick was.. The stench was strong, almost overpowering. Trackable over to.. The other side of the street. There was an elf. Talking over on a cell phone. The crowd passing by as if oblivious over to it then as the elf jabbered over into it in a fast paced language. Okay, it's a damned elf. And Pete had to cross the street. Shrugging his jacket back on, he crossed when the opportunity presented itself. For the time being, though, he was damned good at looking completely oblivious, as though he didn't see the elf. But a hand slid up to unbutton the holster to an extendable baton, specialty-crafted to be made of iron. In case he had to beat some fae head in. Vanguard steps into the doorway, looking around the bathroom and watching Pete as he does...whatever it is that he's doing. It was just plain werid, so he asks. "Excuse me, sir? Exactly what is it that you're doing?" Pete is going to cross the street. Wtih a cast iron baton. To confront an elf. The elf turns and sees Vanguard approaching Pete. Then gives out an unsettling smile. Giving a wave. And then casually walks over towards them. Pete Wisdom lifted his free hand to signal to Vanguard to hang back. "Official business, capey. Just a moment." And now that the elf is approaching, Wisdom asked in Gaelic, " NOt all of them. And my, Mister Wisdom..> He grins, flashing an array of sharkteeth HIs palm going over towards a pocket then, far too msall to have anything over in it. Vanguard frowns underneath the mask when the old man motions for him to stay back. However, this was a little bit out of his element, so he decided to listen to the obviously more experienced guy. "I'm here to help.." He pauses as they start talking in a language he doesn't understand. "Just what the hell is going on here?" A wonderfully elusive answer. Pete's eyes narrowed, and he studied the elf's body language. He spoke to Vanguard, "This fellow here claims responsibility for some of the deaths of recent. That's all I can tell you concretely." And back to the elf, Wisdom glowered. <"My business with the Charitable Saint isn't yours. Not all the deaths? Tell me what you know in regards to those deaths of recent, that you're involved in, whether responsible or not.>" He cleared his throat, and said to Vanguard, "Gaelic is a fun language, no? Sorry, best way to deal with these folk with your best foot forward. At least without tripping too sharply." The elf grinned over at Pete, flashing his sharkteeth, going on He grins, The elf's hands both in his pockets. Vanguard's body tenses up slightly when Pete mentions that this guy was responsible for some of the murders. He asides to Pete. "Since you're the expert on this kind of thing, I'll follow your lead, sir." He pauses. "My name's Vanguard, by the way." All he needed was the go-ahead to kick the crap out of this thing...but he didn't know what it was capable of. Pete Wisdom wanted to spit at the elf, but them's fightin' words, and he didn't want to fight right now. "Our world is our business, yours is yours. Diplomacy is best - if you and yours have enacted some sort of aggression on this side, you're risking war between here and Otherworld, elf. And I'm not sure if you've noticed of late," and his voice went to smooth Gaelic once more, Yes, Oberon. Shakespeare didn't get his inspiration from only drugs. "Hold off for now, boy, we're working the diplomatic angle while we can. And I'm not sure just what kind of elf we're dealing with here, either. Least he's no tooth fairy." Thank god. The elf grins over at Pete. < I might be molded in the likes of Oberon, but not by him. > The elf's shark-toothed grin grew broader He grins. The flash of teeth. An escapee from Merlin's realm through the cracks of Oddness doing targeted killings for.. Just what reasoning? And the tooth fairy is a frightening sunnuva. Evne by the standards of onewho has looked Hela herself in the eye. Vanguard nods in answer to Pete. "Well, I hope diplomacy works. You obviously know what this thing that looks like an elf is, and you speak it's language." He crosses his large arms over his chest. "Of course it would help if I knew what you two were talking about."ith that kind of attitude, it's surprising that Pete hasn't attacked the elf yet. But he does now. Swinging his arm back, the baton extended with a SNAP! And he swung that iron baton forward, aiming for the elf's knee. He doesn't want to kill it - that wouldn't solve anything - but hobbling it and showing it just how much he means business is definitely what he intends. "< Contracts! Privateer! You don't belong here without very good reason, who snuck you into this world and why are they setting you to kill these people!? >" The creepy thing was, Pete didn't look very mad. He looked calculating, serious, and almost military. To Vanguard he spoke quickly, "The elf was brought here by someone as a contract hitman, involved in some of the killings directly. Trying to figure out who he's working for and why. He shouldn't be here in the first place." The elf grins, and speaks in Gaellic As Pete went to swing the baton down, the elf leatp to the side and dodged, pulling out from his pocket... A gun. Or rather... Two guns. And the Elf with the Guns began to shoot at the two, spraying with fast bursts of automatic fire while dodging about like a jack in the box! Vanguard still had no real grasp of what was going on, but when he saw two guns come out, he quickly places himself in front of Pete. The bullets from the gun impact him and simply bounce off his back. He looks down at Pete and comments, "I supposed diplomacy didn't work? So..can I hit him now?" Shit, shit shit! Wisdom was about to dive for cover when he found cover in the form of Vanguard. And he tossed the hero his baton. "Smack 'im with this! Otherwise you might not be able to hurt him at all." Now Pete was disarmed! But not for long - from his fingertips sprouted long, blades of glowing orange light, extending about a foot apiece. "Disarming him is best - maybe literally. Go for his hands and shatter those bones, make him know just how much we mean business." And then he shouted at the elf. Something rude in Gaelic. "" Ouch. The elf with the guns dodged around, flipping through the air < Oh ho ho, so your father hasn't told you that story about your mum then? > Leaping thorugh the air, even as his bullets pinged off Vanguard's body, trying to bolt between Vanguard's legs. Zipping along, the words perhaps having some meaning, perhaps not, but the references purelythere to try and shatter Pete's cool! Vanguard turns around when the elft tries to bolt between his legs. He grabs the iron baton with both hands and swings for the fences. "Hey, you pointy eared bastard! Lay off the old man!" Okay, so Pete wasn't THAT old, but he was older than Dedrick by a lot, so it was a fair assessment. Luckily what the elf said was only SO personal - he knows for a fact that everything his father has to say involving his mother was blaming him. And his business in Otherworld is staying there. He brought his hands up to bare, crossing his long hot-knives in a block, trying to anticipate what the elf would do next... if Vanguard missed. Hopefully he didn't. Vanguard grabbed the baton. And his swing was true. Where once were the elf's legs, now were just a set of kneecaps. The elf let out a howl as his legs went akimbo - one pair to Barbados, the other to Australia, flying off and zinging as he hit the ground hard, rolling to the side, now just on stumps. Vanguard tosses the pipe back to Pete. "Homerun." He states before moving to kick the guns away from the Elf. "Normally, I'd never do this to someone. But you're not from our world. I think you should tell the elder gentleman what he wants to know." He aims both fists at the Elf and they begin to glow with a bright white energy. "..before I blast you to kingdom come." Wisdom reached out towards the elf, his hotknife tips threatening to touch the legless foe's ears. "Who are you working for? Who else is involved in these killings? And why are you being hired to do them?" The Elf laughs up at Wisdom, speaking in English, "Oh, the big guy. Sometimes the naughty list gets a bit too long.. Sometimes temptation needs trimmed." Vanguard looks over at Pete. "The big guy? Who's the big guy?" Wait a minute, he's an elf, and he's talking about a big guy and a naughty list. "Wait....surely this isn't a perversed version of Santa Claus..right?" "You've already lost your legs," Wisdom replied. "And whether allowed here or not, you know the rules." He repeated his questions a second time. And added, "The 'Big Guy' isn't good enough. I need a name." He's not about to entertain the Santa bit. Maybe Krampus. But he needs a name. The elf grins over at Vanguard, "Right in one. And don't say it hadn't occurred to ye laddie." Voice thickening in an exaggerated accent purely to mock. "Steals to every house in the world in a night? SPies upon all those present? Casts down judgement upon them?" Vanguard would narrow his gaze at the Elf if his face could be seen. He fires off a blast of energy near the elf's head, leaving a smoking crater in the pavement beside him. "A name, dude. We ain't got all day." Pete Wisdom turned his head away as Vanguard let loose a blast, to avoid getting hit in the face with shrapnel. "I don't believe that Kringle would hire out contract killers." But this world has gotten a lot stranger. "His brother, on the other hand... I don't believe that either, he's in it for the mischief, not the murder. Why?!" The elf laughs, "Because you know how it is. Small ripples build up and become big ones! So removing the ripples befor ethey can make a splash eases things! Removing someone before they can take a cue in what will become bigger disasters down the line!" Vanguard looks over at Pete. "Is he making any sense to you at all? Because it seems like he's talking in riddles to me." Pete Wisdom knows all too well what that's like. And his brows furrowed. "But that's not your place in this world. Nor anyone who should be hiring you. You've caused illegitimate mortal deaths, you know the price, elf. Tell me where I can find and confront your boss and I'll be merciful enough so you don't have to walk on your stumps for the rest of your days." He sighed. "He's been hired to do pre-emptive killings before people do bad things. Which takes away their free will, and isn't his place, or any others of his kind." The elf with the gun just laughs, "Oh, you won't. He'll know when you're coming. After all.. He knows when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake! He knows when you've been good or bad, so be good for goodness sake! And you, Mister Wisdom, have been a very naughty boy.." The elf lets out a bellowing laughter. Vanguard releases an audible gasps. "Crap..is that even possible? Killing people before they ever do anything wrong is just plain murder. They haven't even done the crime yet, and even if they do, they should be caught and tried, not executed." Anger stirs up in the young man's heart at the concept. "What are you going to do with him?" He asks Pete. "I paid my dues, elf." Now he spat at the elf's missing feet. "Don't presume to tell me just how bad I've been." He looked hard at the creature, then rose a brow to Vanguard. "Planning? You're absolutely right with what he did, Vanguard. And as he has no authority here, and seeing as he doesn't belong, there's two ways we can go about this. Toss him back into Otherworld where he'll likely be eaten by something, legless and disarmed, or kill him ourselves." The elf waggles a stump that was once an arm, "So, judge me and kill me yourself? I do what I'm sent to prevent greater chaos later. And here you are about to do the same thing with the same justification. It sounds like the piper plays the same way for the two of us, Mister Wisdom." Vanguard shakes his head and backs up. "Even if he is as vile of a creature as you say, I can't in good concious take his life. You'll either have to do it, mister, or I can help you take him home. But I can't kill him... I just can't." "You do what you're sent by someone who shouldn't be doing this. It's like if I called a demon. You're beholden to who hired you, but you're not in the shape to keep at it." Wisdom sighed. He wanted to kill the elf, but he didn't at the same token. "Mercy might be a more severe sentence in the long run. But I should throw you back where you belong." The elf with the former guns just laughed at Pete, "You do what you must. But know that you may have stopped me, but you won't stop the rest!" The elf just smiles sinisterly over at Pete, "After all, business is up, business is good, and who wants someone naughty in thier neighborhood?" Vanguard leans down suddenly and picks up the elf with one hand. And he's not nice about it, either. "Where do we take him? Is there some sort of portal, or magic spell, or what?" "A little of all three. It's more dangerous for him if we do things quick and dirty." At the mention of others, Wisdom grit his teeth. "Open season on the naughty list, you mean? Do I have to call your boss *directly*?" The elf leers at Pete, "Why, you afraid fo what you might find out if you ask him, Mister Wisdom?" Not at all, I just need to know how much I need to prepare before I make a lot of good children very sad this year," Wisdom replied coldly. The elf laughs, "Then be expecting much morethan just your regular shipment of coal!"